Chapter 7 - The Final Morning
By the time the sun rose the following morning, the beautiful historic house looked like a tragic disaster zone.
Nathan and Elena had stayed awake all night, desperately trying to pack their chaotic belongings into his overcrowded SUV.
They looked absolutely exhausted, their faces pale and their eyes rimmed with heavy, dark circles.
I was comfortably enjoying a brilliant room-service breakfast on the balcony of my massive Aspen hotel suite, watching the live feed on my tablet.
At exactly 7:00 AM, the heavy, undeniable sound of massive diesel engines rumbled directly outside the front of the property.
Three massive, yellow commercial demolition bulldozers parked illegally on the front lawn, crushing the delicate flower beds I used to meticulously maintain.
A tall, imposing man in a hard hat and a high-visibility vest walked up to the front door and pounded heavily on the wood.
Nathan opened the door, looking completely disheveled, wearing the exact same wrinkled clothes from the day before.
"Are you Nathan?" the aggressive corporate foreman barked, holding a thick clipboard of legal documents.
"Yes, but you can't be here, we are packing!" Nathan stammered defensively, trying to block the wide doorway.
"I don't care what you are doing, buddy," the foreman interrupted coldly, signaling to a pair of large security guards behind him.
"This property is officially a hard-hat construction zone owned by Apex Demolitions, and you are currently trespassing on a highly dangerous commercial site."
Elena peeked out from behind Nathan's shoulder, clutching her overpriced designer handbag like a fragile shield.
"We legally have twenty-four hours!" Elena screamed, trying to sound authoritative and failing miserably.
"Your twenty-four hours expired at six o'clock this morning," the foreman stated flatly, checking his heavy steel watch.
"You have exactly ten minutes to get off this property before I have my armed guards physically throw you onto the public sidewalk."
Nathan looked at the massive security guards, realizing immediately that physical intimidation only worked when he was hitting an elderly woman.
Against real, capable men, Nathan was nothing but a pathetic, cowardly little bully.
"Okay, okay, we are leaving right now!" Nathan surrendered instantly, raising his hands in absolute defeat.
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They scrambled frantically to grab the last few heavy trash bags of clothes, dragging them miserably down the driveway.
I watched the live camera feed with absolute, predatory delight as my son was chased out of my home like a common, unwanted pest.
